Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

13 Keep on loving your Christian brothers.

² Take strangers to your home and care for them. Some people who have done this found out the strangers were angels.

³ Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them. And remember those who are having troubles, as if you were having the same troubles.

⁴ Everyone must respect marriage. And the bed must be kept clean. God will punish those who use their bodies for wrong sex.

⁵ Do not let the love of money control your life. Be satisfied with what you have. God himself has said, `I will never be away from you. I will never leave you alone.'

⁶ So we can be strong and say, `The Lord will help me. I will not be afraid. What can men do to me?'

⁷ Remember your leaders. They have told you the word of God. Think about the way they lived and died, and keep on believing as they did.

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.

¹⁵ Let us always give a sacrifice of praise to God through Jesus. We do it by thanking him for all that he has done and also by talking about him. That is the sacrifice we make with our lips to his name.

¹⁶ But do not forget to do good things for people, and to give what you have to those who need it. These are sacrifices that please God.

14 One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat at the house of a ruler. He was a ruler of the Pharisees. They were watching Jesus.

⁷ Jesus told a story to the people who were asked to eat at the house. He saw that they chose to sit at the best places.

⁸ He said to them, `When you are called to a wedding, do not sit in the best place. It may be that a better man than you has been called.

⁹ Then the man who called you both will come and say to you, "Get up and let this man sit here." Then you will be ashamed. And you will go and sit down in the last place.

¹⁰ But when you are asked to go to a wedding, go and sit down in the last place. Then when the man who called you comes, he will say to you, "Friend, come to a better place." Then all the people who sit at the table will see how he respects you.

¹¹ `Everyone who puts himself up in a high place will be brought down to a low place. And everyone who puts himself down in a low place will be brought up to a high place.'

¹² Then Jesus said to the man who had asked him to come, `When you make a dinner or a feast, do not ask your friends, or your brothers, or the people in your family, or your rich neighbours. They will repay you by making a dinner for you.

¹³ But when you make a dinner, ask the people who are poor, hurt, lame, or blind.

¹⁴ You will be made happy because they cannot pay you. You will be repaid when all good people are raised from death.'